Venus and Mercury just moved into Sagittarius, giving us a taste of the upcoming Sag season, and a bit of relief from the heaviness and intensity of the past few weeks. While Venus and Mercury were in Scorpio (since October 8 and October 13, respectively), we were deepening emotional bonds, digging into core wounds of abandonment and betrayal, and shedding old, self-limiting layers of relational and mental conditioning.

The Sun will be in Scorpio until November 22, and these themes of emotional deep-diving, purging and transformation continue. But the shift of Venus and Mercury into Sagittarius adds an element of trust, spaciousness, optimism, forward movement and future vision. Scorpio’s realm is the Underworld, while Sag rules expansion — the urge to cross borders and boundaries, explore the edges of consciousness, and open to new potentials and possibilities.

Venus, goddess of love, rules relationship, eroticism, kinship, art and beauty. Venus in Sagittarius invites a spirit of adventure, risk-taking, and faith in positive outcomes into these areas. (More about Venus in Sag in my Reviving Venus post later this week…)

Mercury is the planet of perception, connection and communication and in Sagittarius, our minds and conversations turn toward big-picture perspectives and our highest vision for the future. Mercury in Sag depends on intuition rather than rational analysis, trusting instinctual guidance as a path toward freedom and truth. Shadow Mercury in Sag looks like an over-attachment to being “right,” and resistance to other people’s ideas and opinions.

We’ll be getting plenty of Mercury in Sag lessons over the next few months because Mercury will be Retrograde in this sign from November 23 to December 13. This will be a period of slowing down forward momentum in order to re-vision your future, and to reconnect with and renew inspiration, faith and optimism. Due to the Mercury Retro “shadow,” we’re actually under the influence starting on November 5, and it lingers on until January 2.

Mercury and Venus have been traveling together since mid-October, and will be closest on November 7 — the true Halloween, the traditional cross-quarter holy day of Samhain. The Mercury-Venus conjunction in Sagittarius wants us to tell the truth in and about our relationships. What was discovered during the Scorpionic process of deep diving now wants to be revealed.

In her Scorpio New Moon report, Barbara Hand Clow writes about Mercury-Venus:

“Comprehension about the real truth in our primary relationships is going to explode: Many partners will have to deal with unresolved elements in their relationships that hold them back from supporting this huge cleansing of human history. Ouch! Do not kid yourself, we all carry these shadows, and this chart says we must clear them before they backfire on us…. As annoying as Sagittarian fire can be, it exposes the lies.” (AstroFlash!)

Mindshifts and Mending Brokenness

Last night I listened to two podcasts that seemed to beautifully reflect these current cosmic themes. The first was the initial program in the Art of Love series, hosted by Arielle Ford and Claire Zammit. Mercury rules learning, and Sag rules higher education, so it seemed like perfect timing to get new information and perspectives on relationships — Venus.

The hosts suggested three “mindshifts” about relationships — again, very Mercury-Venus. My personal favorite: “Give up the idea that it has to be hard and take a long time.” We would do well to apply that perspective to all areas of life. Sagittarius is relentlessly optimistic, and while shadow Sag can be annoyingly Pollyanna, making the spiritual bypass move of glossing over the depths and darkness, if we’ve done our Scorpio work, then we’re rewarded with the ability to take off into an expansive, exciting new reality.

The other program I listened to was the most recent Visionary Activist Show with Caroline Casey, in which she interviews artist/community activist Lily Yeh. Wow. If you want to be inspired and profoundly moved (not to mention humbled), please listen to this show. Yeh’s work is to “transform brokenness into beauty and joy” by going into “broken” places like Rwanda, Damascus, poverty-stricken areas of Philadelphia, etc. and initiating community art projects that bring people together through a healing, transformational, creative process.

Barefoot Artists Project at Kujenga Pamoja Park, Kenya

Yeh exemplifies the Scorpio-Sagittarius energy at its best. She enters the Underworld, communities that have been traumatized and torn apart, and, through the magic of making art, “the community is wrestled from the heart of darkness,” and gifted with “strength and vision for the future.” As Yeh explains, the healing that happens through the collective art project creates a foundation of trust and hope upon which practical structures and systems can be built to further help the community.

Entering the broken places, within and outside of ourselves, requires no small amount of faith and courage. Mercury and Venus in Sagittarius can help us take this risk. As Lily Yeh says, “When we feel weak and not good enough, that’s not enough of a reason.”